Claiborne v. Blauser

• Decision Date: 28 June 2019
• Docket Number: No. 16-16077,16-16077
• Citation: 934 F.3d 885
• Parties: Dennis Gerald CLAIBORNE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BLAUSER, Correctional Officer; S. Martin, Correctional Officer, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

934 F.3d 885

Dennis Gerald CLAIBORNE, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.BLAUSER, Correctional Officer; S. Martin, Correctional Officer, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 16-16077

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted February 6, 2019 San Francisco, California

Filed June 28, 2019

Amended August 14, 2019

ORDER

The opinion filed in this case on June 28, 2019 is amended by replacing the text of footnote 7 on page 28, Claiborne v. Blauser , 928 F.3d 794, 810 n.7 (9th Cir. 2019), with the following paragraphs:

Because we remand for a new trial on the shackling claim, we do not address the merits of Claiborne’s evidentiary arguments that the district court erred in barring his testimony about the ADA, preventing him from introducing or testifying about his medical records, and denying his request for a medical expert. The district court may revisit these issues if Claiborne raises them again at the new trial.

We note, however, that the district court appears to misstate the law when it denied Claiborne’s request for a medical expert under Federal Rule of Evidence 706(a). Although the district court correctly recognized that Rule 706(a) provides discretion to appoint a neutral expert witness, see McKinney v. Anderson , 924 F.2d 1500, 1511 (9th Cir. 1991), vacated on other grounds sub nom. Helling v. McKinney , 502 U.S. 903, 112 S.Ct. 291, 116 L.Ed.2d 236 (1991), judgment reinstated , 959 F.2d 853 (9th Cir. 1992), aff’d , 509 U.S. 25, 113 S.Ct. 2475, 125 L.Ed.2d 22 (1993), the district court seemed to categorically limit the relevance of a medical expert to testifying about a plaintiff’s current condition. Yet courts have regularly considered requests for and appointed experts to review medical records and testify about prior medical needs and treatment in deliberate indifference cases. See Gorton v. Todd , 793 F.Supp.2d 1171, 1179–81 (E.D. Cal. 2011) (collecting cases). Moreover, a medical expert can help with factfinding in excessive force claims because "the extent of injury suffered by an inmate is one factor that may suggest ‘whether the [defendant’s] use of force could plausibly have been thought necessary’ in a particular situation." Hudson v. McMillian , 503 U.S. 1, 7, 112 S.Ct. 995, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992). If Claiborne renews his request for appointment of a neutral medical expert on retrial, the district court should weigh these considerations in exercising her discretion. See McKinney , 924 F.2d at 1511 ; see also Gorton , 793 F.Supp.2d at 1185–86.

The Amended Opinion is filed concurrently with this order.

With the filing of the Amended Opinion, the panel has unanimously voted to deny the Defendants-Appellees’ petition for panel rehearing. No further petitions for rehearing may be filed.

PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

The law has long forbidden the routine use of visible shackling during a criminal defendant’s trial. Deck v. Missouri , 544 U.S. 622, 626, 125 S.Ct. 2007, 161 L.Ed.2d 953 (2005). Visible shackling undermines the presumption of innocence, impedes the jury’s factfinding process, hampers presentation of a defense, and affronts the dignity and decorum of judicial proceedings. Id . at 630–32, 125 S.Ct. 2007. In this civil rights case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, we consider whether the unjustified shackling of a convicted state inmate during his three-day trial on Eighth Amendment excessive force and deliberate indifference claims deprived him of a fair trial in violation of the federal constitution.¹ Although the inmate did not object to the shackling during trial, he raised the issue in support of his motion for a new trial, which the district court denied.

We hold that the district court abused its discretion in denying a new trial. Because the inmate’s dangerousness and flight risk were central issues at the trial, the district court plainly erred in allowing him to be visibly shackled without any showing of a sufficient need for such restraints. See Tyars v. Finner , 709 F.2d 1274, 1284–85 (9th Cir. 1983). We therefore reverse and remand for a new trial.

I.

This appeal arises out of a lawsuit filed by Dennis Gerald Claiborne who, proceeding pro se, sued Correctional Officers Jemini Blauser, Greg Martin, and other individual officials under Section 1983 for the use of excessive force and deliberate indifference to his medical needs.

A.

Claiborne is a 63-year-old California state prison inmate in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"). He is serving a 60-years-to-life sentence under California’s Three Strikes Law for attempted burglary and receipt of stolen property. People v. Claiborne , No. B260391, 2015 WL 5146746, at *1 (Cal. Ct. App. Sept. 2, 2015).

Claiborne is mobility impaired due to a right knee replacement in 2007 and ensuing chronic problems with that knee. Given his condition, Claiborne participates in the CDCR Disability Placement Program and receives certain accommodations in prison: he is allowed to use a cane; he is restricted to housing on the lower level, with no stairs; and, when escorting Claiborne within the institution, correctional staff must use "waist chains" and choose "relatively level terrain and no obstructions in the path of travel." Waist chains are different from traditional handcuffs; whereas the latter are typically applied behind the back, the former allow a mobility impaired inmate to keep his hands at his sides during an escort, which lets him use any prescribed accommodation devices like a cane. CDCR documents and conveys information about Claiborne’s accommodations to prison officials through physician orders known as medical accommodation "chronos" in his file. Claiborne also wears a green vest to alert officers that he is mobility impaired.

The incident between Claiborne and Officers Blauser and Martin took place on May 3, 2010, while Claiborne was housed at California’s High Desert State Prison, a Level Four security prison. As Claiborne was waiting for his medication in the morning "pill line," Correctional Officer Daniel McBride, stationed in an observation tower, believed he saw Claiborne socializing with other inmates in the line. Officer McBride called Officer Blauser, who was working in Claiborne’s housing unit along with her partner, Officer Martin, and asked Blauser to counsel Claiborne for unnecessarily lingering in the pill line. After waiting thirty minutes in the pill line, Claiborne received his medication and returned to his housing unit where he was admonished by Officer Blauser. She decided to "put a cap" on Claiborne’s door, meaning he would spend the rest of the day locked up in his cell. Because Claiborne had intended to present at a Bible study group later that day, he asked to speak with the sergeant, Officer Blauser’s supervisor, to contest the punishment and explain that he had been properly waiting in line and not socializing.

The account of the facts diverge drastically from there. According to Claiborne, he was acting respectfully toward Officer Blauser when she told him to "cuff up." He complied and, as Officers Blauser and Martin started to escort him, Claiborne informed them that it was difficult for him to walk and use his cane with his hands cuffed behind his back. He mentioned his chrono for waist chains but Officer Blauser told Officer Martin to take Claiborne’s cane. Officer Martin said he would help hold Claiborne up as the three of them walked to the program office to speak with the sergeant. Claiborne, however, had difficulty walking with Officers Blauser and Martin. They escorted him straight across the yard, rather than along the sidewalk circling the yard, despite Claiborne’s chrono providing for level terrain. Because the yard was uneven, Claiborne hyperextended his right leg, causing his knee to give out partway across the yard. Claiborne lost balance and shifted rightward, causing Officer Blauser to order him to stop resisting. Claiborne tried to explain that he was not resisting and that his knee was bothering him because the officers were pulling him too quickly.

When the three were almost at the program office, Claiborne’s right leg hyperextended again as he tried to pick the leg up three to five inches from the dirt yard onto the pavement. Because he had no cane to catch himself, Claiborne leaned to his right again, causing Officer Blauser to shout "he’s resisting" and pull him down to the ground. She jumped on his right side, including his replaced knee, and pulled his hair and hit him in the face a few times. Other officers quickly rushed to the scene and Claiborne heard individuals ask, "Where’s his cane?" and "Why isn’t he in waist chains?" Claiborne was eventually taken into a holding cell and then interviewed by a sergeant, which was recorded by a video camera. Before turning on the camera to record the interview, the sergeant warned Claiborne that if he reported excessive force, he would be taken to the "hole," in other words, administrative segregation, for an unknown amount of time. Worried about whether his medical needs would be met in the hole, Claiborne eventually stated on camera, after extended back-and-forth with the sergeant, that there was no excessive force used against him.

Officers Blauser and Martin presented a different account. They were both aware of Claiborne’s mobility impairment at the time of the incident. According to Officer Blauser, while she counseled Claiborne for lingering in the pill line, he became "really aggravated" and started raising his voice at her, causing her to feel uncomfortable. Claiborne then walked toward her while holding, not using, his cane. Because she did not feel safe, Officer Blauser told Claiborne to "cuff up," and he immediately turned around and complied. She asked her partner, Officer Martin, to assist her with escorting Claiborne to the program office. Officer Martin took Claiborne’s cane, and they each supported him by holding onto his bicep or arm on each side. Neither Officer Blauser nor Officer Martin recalled...